Wednesday, August 03, 2005

McCain, Larry Noble and Delusions of Grandeur

Senator John "Media Maverick" McCain has posited Center for Responsive Politics frontman and former FEC General Counsel Lawrence Noble to be placed on the Federal Election Commission. No doubt Noble meets the qualifications of Allison Hayward, I think he would be a very bad choice for the Commission, but that is not the point of this post.

Since when did John McCain become the self-appointed ruler of all things campaign finance related. I would like to remind the world that McCain was at the heart of the Keating Five scandal which involved improper influence by five senators in exchange for campaign finance contributions by failed savings and loan mogul Charles Keating.

McCain does not get to name people to the FEC, the President does. By tradition, openings in the opposing parties seats on the commission are named by leaders of hte opposing party. Thus President Bush gets to name Republicans and Harry Reid/Nancy Pelosi get to name (again by tradition) Democrats. Nowhere on this list does it say that John McCain gets a voice until the Senate advises and consents on the appointments.

The fact of the matter is that the Commission needs new Commissioners since terms have been expired for a long time and there will be a vacancy.

McCain pushes for FEC critic

This post in a Beltway Traffic Jam

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